LA Clippers: 3 takeaways from blowout win over Portland

The LA Clippers came out and looked dominant again, this time against Portland.

The LA Clippers ended 2020 with a bang. The team defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 128-105.

Much like the first game of the back-to-back on Tuesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, this was a well-balanced attack by the Clippers. The team came out hot in the first and showed no signs of slowing down throughout the game.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

1. LA Clippers Takeaway: Dame’s quiet night

One of the biggest things the Clippers did was limit Damian Lillard. After a lot of trash talk between the two teams this offseason, everyone came into Wednesday night’s game expecting a big game between Damian Lillard, Paul George, Patrick Beverley, and the rest of the group.

While George showed up and Beverley was his normal self, but Lillard failed to provide any impact. The Clippers played good defense on him but honestly, Lillard just could not hit any shots.

He did end up scoring 20 points, but most of those came from the free throw line. He made 14 of his 15 attempts from the charity stripe. Outside of that though, it was a horrible shooting night for him. Lillard went 0 of 8 from deep, and just 3 of 14 from the field.

Had he played a bit more up to his own standards, the Blazers might not have been blown out as badly as they were. Lillard probably won’t do this again and the Clippers will likely have to prove that they can withstand an onslaught from him the next time out.